The deal was worth $66.4 million. Floyd Superior Court Clerk Barbara Penson has been researching local record books to see how the deal compares with past property sales.
“We can’t find anything that begins to touch this kind of property sale,” Penson said.
Floyd County Tax Commissioner Kevin Payne said he too could not imagine anything coming close to that in terms of a single sale.
The Floyd County portion of the sale of properties to the Duke Realty Corporation includes the main Harbin Clinic building at 1825 Martha Berry Blvd., the Specialty Center at 550 Redmond Road and the Heart Center at 504 Redmond Road, along with the Harbin Dialysis Center, 172 Three Rivers Drive.
The Harbin Clinic main office site includes 8.9 acres of land, while the Specialty Center and Heart Center come with 5 and 7.4 acres, respectively.
Harbin Clinic President Dr. Ken Davis said Harbin Properties LLC is a physician-owned entity involving more than 100 local doctors.
“As we move forward with health care reform and what may be about to happen, we needed to be as lean and mean as we could, and everybody said, let’s practice medicine and get out of the real estate business,” Davis said.
Davis stressed when the deal was initially unveiled earlier this month, absolutely nothing in terms of patient care would be different. Duke Realty will, in turn, lease the properties back to Harbin Clinic LLC.
Penson pointed out that the transfer fee of $66,409.80 could fund three clerk positions in her office for an entire year.
Of course, the transfer fee goes into the county general fund and is not earmarked for any specific purpose.
Floyd County’s Chief Appraiser Bill McWhorter said that fewer than a half-dozen properties in Floyd County would bring a higher price individually should they be sold. He named Georgia Power’s Plant Hammond, valued at more than $471 million, and Oglethorpe Power Rocky Mountain Hydroelectric plant, valued at more than $314 million.
The International Paper facility (formerly Inland Rome), the Pirelli North America tire plant and the new Lowe’s Regional Distribution Center would all likely top the $66 million figure, while the two other hospital campuses in Rome — Redmond Regional and Floyd Medical Center — would also come close to the value of the Harbin Properties deal.
"Penson pointed out that the transfer fee of $66,409.80 could fund three clerk positions in her office for an entire year."
Ya, for their salary. Similar to other government myrmidons, she doesn't figure the cost to hire, train, benefits, or the fact that past the first year you're now in the hole for that amount every year thereafter.
makes you wonder why Floyd county is having budget problems with financial gurus like this working for us.